Okay standard disclaimer. I don't own 'Umi no Misaki' or any of it's characters. I only use this story as a way to exercise my writing skills (or lack thereof). Criticism welcome, reviews appreciated.

"Niinii."

Daniel wearily opened eyes into a squint as he looked directly into the small face of Rinnie sitting on her knees only feet from his bed. His left eyebrow slowly climbed up his forehead. "Good morning onee-chan." He managed, his tone even.

"Good morning NiiNii" she spoke as if they were meeting on the street.

"Hey, Onee-chan?" he sat up now, scratching the stubble on his chin.

"Yes?" she smiled sweetly.

"Um, why are you here?"

"Breakfast is ready." She stated warmly.

"Ah, I see, but" he gestured to his small bedroom containing only his desk and several boxes still in the process of being unpacked. "Why are you in my bedroom? I mean, is it really safe for you to be entering a strange adult's room?"

"But you're not a stranger." The middle-schooler protested. "Your Niinii. And Niinii wouldn't let anything bad happen to me."

He was at a loss. "Well, that's true but…" he then noticed Taiga perched happily on the girl's shoulder nibbling a piece of fruit.

Daniel leveled the creature with a glare. "Traitor!" The glider didn't care.

"Niinii, hurry or breakfast will get cold." The display of sweetness was enough to remind him that he needed to brush his teeth.

"Okay okay, let me get ready and I will be there in a minute." He finally sat up yawning deep as he stretched his tricep over his head. He looked back down at the other occupant in his room after a short while. "Onee-chan?"

She beamed.

Daniel groaned. "Please leave now…"

"Pardon the intrusion." Called Daniel as he removed his shoes in the entryway with Rinnie.

"Oh, good Morning, you're just in time, breakfast is ready."

"Auntie, really this isn't necessary. I did get my kitchen set up last night. And I am already in your debt for last night."

"Think nothing of it child, it is rare for the village to see new faces and it is nice to have company." Yae smiled at him from her seat at the table as Daniel moved to assume his seat from last night.

"Thank you again Auntie, Wow, this looks delicious. Itadakimasu!" and it was.

"Wow this is delicious Auntie!"

"Thank you, Rinnie helped with the soup."

"Really," he said between mouthfuls turning to the aforementioned girl. "Excellent job, being such a good cook at your… age." Behind Rinnie he could see Karin… frozen… wearing only panties with a towel draped over her shoulders. Sighing the young man mumbled a quick "Forgive my rudeness." With surprising speed, he consumed the rest of the meal before him. He then turned with solemn grace to Yae, whipping his mouth and placing the chopsticks on top of his bowl. "Auntie, your kindness to this one will not be forgotten." She smiled warmly at him. Turning to Rinnie again he stated "Onee-chan, someday you will grow into a beautiful and mature woman, remember, no one will ever be good enough for you." She giggled and smiled, as if he were complimenting her hairstyle. "Oh, and please take care of Taiga for me. Thank you." Daniel was now ready for the end.

Suddenly, as if someone hit the play button, Karin began. "What are you doing here this early in the morning?!" Daniel's world was pain.

"This Sucks!" Karin proclaimed to the world. "Ever since Daniel-baka got here only bad things have happened."

Daniel only a few feet behind the angry girl could only agree as he was once again being pulled along by the little Rinnie. He let his head droop further. "Tell me about it. Hey Rinnie, your sister isn't by any chance an exhibitionist, is she?" Rinnie, for her part, remained silent, and as always smiled. "You know, I'm sure I can find the market myself if you were to just point me in the right direction."

"It's right next to our school." Rinnie offered.

"Your school?" Daniel now took a moment to realize that both girls wore the same type of school uniform. "Onee-chan, you're in middle school correct."

She grinned and nodded.

"Oh I see!" the young man announced, understanding. "So your sister was held back for a couple grades huh? I guess that would explain why she is so angry all the time." Daniel's smile was quickly imprinted onto the sidewalk for all to enjoy for years to come as Karin delivered her righteous fury.

"It's all one school! Moron. Elementary, middle, and high school. There are only a total of 16 students."

"Really?"

Karin jumped at Daniel's quick recovery. 'what is this guy made of?' "Uuh, yeah. So here we are."

Daniel looked at the school; it had a single track field in front and was one of the only three story buildings in the area. It was… quaint.

Rinnie finally released his hand as they stood in front of school entrance. "The Market is just over there and down the left. See?"

"So it is." He said glancing in that direction. "thank you again. Have a good day at school Onee-chan." He added as an afterthought. "And you too Karin-san."

She turned and surprised him with a bright smile, both hands on her school bag. "Die." With that said, she turned and darted in the direction of her class.

Daniel just stared as she disappeared. 'you know, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It always seems huh?' his thoughts were interrupted as an impact into his backside drew his attention to the form that had bounced off him lay in an, undignified position behind him. "Uh, little Miss?" he guessed as the figure suddenly sat bolt upright when the school bell rang. "Are you alright?" he reached out at hand to help the girl up. Her size implied that she was around Rinnie's age.

"I'm….late….again." Daniel stumbled back at the girl's head suddenly jerked at his direction, the small face displaying unrestrained rage. "It's all your fault!" she cried as she lept at him, only to come up short in her attack as Daniel held her at arm's reach while she continued to attempt inflicting bodily harm upon him. "If you weren't there! If you weren't in the way!"

"Whoa whoa calm down." Attempting to placate the small girls anger. "Here, how about I talk to your teacher, huh? I'll tell 'em it was my fault and not yours okay?" She almost instantly stopped her thrashing in his grip.

"Teacher?" she asked simply.

"Yeah," he was confused "Isn't that what you're worried about? Making your teacher angry?"

"I can never make the teacher angry!" she said, her voice suddenly much more mature that it had been. "And why you ask…" she removed a pair of glasses from her pocket and put them on. "Because I'm the teacher!" striking a pose.

Daniel laughed as he poked her in the forehead. "Riiiiight. Of course you are." Daniel looked up as he heard a set of footsteps approaching.

"Kisaragi-sensei."

At the man's words the girl panicked and spun "Principal! I-I'm sorry… I'll write a letter of apology, just please don't dock my pay…"

'She really is a teacher? But…. Ah forget it, I give up.' "Principal-sensei." He began, addressing the older man. "Please forgive her, I am new to the island and she was directing me to the market. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused." He bowed respectfully.

"Very well." The older man smiled. "Kisaragi-sensei, don't keep the class waiting too long." With that said the man entered a door and left.

Daniel looked down on the now stunned teacher in front of him, looking closer he could tell that she didn't really look as young as he had thought at first, she was just… small. "So? How old are you anyways?"

Her response was to reach out and grab his family jewels and squeeze, bringing him down to her level. He was now looking her dead in the face. "First off, you should never ask a woman that. Second," she now grabbed his face, thankfully releasing her previous grip on him, and kissed him hard on the lips, after a few seconds she released him purring. "Old enough to give a proper 'thank you' in the way you deserve." She smiled at his look of bewilderment. "What's your name?"

Daniel was still stunned, his mind still unable to keep up with the rapid change of events. "Daniel Hansen"

"Daniel Hansen hmmm?" she said to herself and she turned and walked in the direction of what he could only assume to be her classroom. "I will definitely see you later."

'W-Was I just violated or assaulted?'

-Later that day-

Daniel walked, distracted on the beachside street. He was thinking back to his trip into the market earlier. It was nice, setup like a farmers market, there weren't any real stores so much as stalls and booths set up along a particularly wide street with several 'mom & pop' stores making up the buildings that lined it.

The merchants and store owners we polite enough and would engage in light conversation but always seemed reserved. There were several times that he would hear 'outsider' mumbled when it was thought that he wouldn't hear. But he had expected this amount of skepticism over his arrival. Yae had mentioned already that it was rare for new people to move onto the island. That coupled with the Japanese xenophobia he had experienced in other areas he thought that it would be chalked up to normal small town paranoia and hope that they would come to accept him someday.

'I guess not everyone could be as nice and accepting as the Nagumo family. Ha, well most of them anyways.' He had returned to his house and finished his unpacking after stocking his cupboards with food stuffs. As the day progressed he decided it would be nice to get out and sight see around his new home. That had been several hours ago and he was now heading back in the direction of his home.

Looking up he spotted three teenage girls walking in the same direction as him. He recognized the short haired redhead and called out a greeting. "Good afternoon Karin-san!"

The three girls turned and Karin, having recognized him, pointedly turned back around. In that moment he recognized the girl in the middle as the one that had pulled him from the ocean the day before. Once she made eye contact her face flashed surprise before she, as quickly as Karin, turn about and continued on. The third girl, this one in glasses, followed her companions.

Daniel was at a lost. Maybe she didn't recognize him? He jogged to catch up, when he was several paces behind he called out. "Hey, Shizuku! It's me Daniel! Re…" All three girls stopped at this, and all but Shizuku turned to stare at him disbelieving. A moment later the silence was broken by Shizuku herself.

"I have no idea who you are." Her tone was cold and flat. A complete turn around from the happy and upbeat girl that he had met the day before.

"Hey but.." he reached out to tap her shoulder but his hand never made it. Instead someone grabbed his outstretched wrist and began to twist it with deliberate force. Years of training made Daniel's reaction immediate. He extended his fingers into a 'knife hand' and rotated his hand in a small circle, moving his fingers from the front to the back of the offending hand. His other hand clamped onto the knuckles of his assailants hand so it could not escaped and he applied pressure downwards, sending his opponent quickly into the kneeling position in an attempt to lessen the pressure on the forearm.

Panic set in as Daniel saw that the assailant kneeling before him was the third girl of the group. He immediately released her, so surprised and stunned he stumbled backwards onto his backside. He spit out apologies as fast as he could come up with them.

Over him stood Karin, glaring… as always. "How can you talk to someone so casually!?"

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to, she just grabbed my wrist and… huh?" he had just 'manhandled' one of her friends and she was concerned about how he talked to someone? He fumbled for words as he stood back up. "Wait, What?"

"She is somebody that you can't just talk to. Especially someone like you?" she said, poking him in the chest.

"Like me?"

"You only just got here yesterday, how do you know her?" Karin crossed her arms over her chest.

"I would like to hear the answer as well." The girl that had grabbed him was there now, hands on hips, her face and voice unemotional. He looked up and realized that Shizuku had continued walking down the street a short distance before turning around slightly uncaring.

A fist came up and struck him in the gut, he didn't move he still stared at the cold figure standing apart only offhandedly noticing Karin's disbelieving cry of "Yogomi!?"

"My apologies," he began, his face just as cold, he pull his ballcap lower over his face. "I must have mistaken her for someone else. I don't know who that is person is."

With a "Hmpf." Yogimi turned and continued the walk as if nothing happened. Only Karin remained, looking unsure of what to do next. She took a tentative step in Daniel's direction. "A-are you okay?"

"What do you care?"

She stopped, her look downcast. "I'm not a bad person it just…"

"Let's go, Karin!" called Yogomi without turning around.

"But" she paused turning to Daniel again. "I…"

He looked to her now and for the first time could see honest concern on her features. 'I don't think I'll ever understand girls.' "I'm fine, go."

"O..okay." and with that, she too, followed the other girls.

"What the hell is going on around here?" wonderfully frustrated he decided that it was definitely time to head home.

-Home-

"What the F?" Daniel mumbled to himself as he repeated the motion again. As soon as he had made his way home he quickly changed and went to the roof with the intention of doing one of his favorite stress relieving activities. Strenuous exercise. Currently he was working on pushups while wearing a weighted vest. He continued the repetitive motion in smooth deliberate motions.

"First there's the girl who is kind sweet and gentle one moment and then BAM, next she a cold hearted ice queen." Having reached failure in his pushups he rolled over and instantly began crunches with his legs pointed straight into the sky. "Then, there's the exhibitionist who can't seem to take her clothes off without being in plain sight, I mean, it's gotta be intentional!" He now placed his arms flat on the deck and began to rotate his legs side to side picking them back up just before they touched the ground. "And who can forget the minni-perv with a teaching degree. I guess they'll just let anyone teach nowadays." He blushed at the memory. "perv!"

"Welcome home…"

"Gah!" with a start Daniel rolled backwards and sprung off his hands into a low crouch and stared back into the eyes of…

"Niinii"

Rinnie. She stood there, smiling as always, and if she was impressed in any way with the display she didn't show it.

"Ah, onee-chan!" he said breathless before standing and reaching for his towel on the rail to pat dry his head. "Are you a ninja or something?" I must really be off my game if a kid can sneak up on me like that. "I hope you never get mad at me like your sister… or any other girl on this island for that matter." She just watched him in silence. "Soo.. what can I do for you? Does Auntie need something?"

She spoke frankly "I want to go for a walk with you."

"Uhh, do I have a choice?"

She calmly reached for his hand and began to walk back to the stairs. He sighed in defeat. "I guess not. Can I at least take off the vest and grab my wallet?"

"And you know, it's actually nice with there only being a small population here." He smiled, he was feeling better. "You know Rinnie-chan you're a great listener." Spotting a vending machine he reached for his wallet. "What do you wanna' drink?" he asked turning to look at his silent companion.

"For me?"

"Of course, I'm pretty sure that right now you're my only friend on the island. It's the least I can do. So whatcha want?"

"S-senin Tea please."

"Comin' up" he said grabbing the dispensed drink and handing it to her. She opened it and sipped slowly as they continued their walk till coming to the beach. The sun was setting into the ocean casting the world in an orange hue. "You know, I've been all over the world and this is one of the… is that your sister?"

Indeed, Karin stood knee deep in the ocean wearing what looked like a plain shinto ceremonial robe, slowly dripping water over her arms.

She seemed to realize she was being watched because she turned slightly. "Hm? Rinne? And?"

"You're not gonna take your clothes off again are you?" Daniel asked in a monotone.

Karin blushed crimson. And hugged her robe closer. "WAH!? Why would I do that?"

He waved his hands in front of himself in a placating gesture. "Kidding kidding."

She seemed to relax some. "What are you doing here anyways?"

In response he shrugged and pointed to Rinne who had moved down the shore a short way and was now playing with the rolling tide. Karin looked over to her sister, her expression thoughtful. "Rinne-chan doesn't say very much, and she doesn't get attached to a lot people." She looked back out to sea. "…Rinne is much more withdrawn and introverted than I am. I have never seen her get so attached to somebody she doesn't know."

"Really? She seems rather outgoing to me if maybe a little quite. Come to think of it, she's not a ninja is she?" he asked seriously. It was rare for someone to be able to sneak up on him, let alone a child.

She ignored him. "Come to think of it, she said 'niinii is special.'" She turned to him, her look serious. "Did you do something to Rinne?"

Daniel's brow furrowed. "aww come on! Seriously?"

"I'm sorry." She said sheepishly. "It's just… we're not used to… outsiders."

"Yeah, I think I've realized that." He said with more venom then he meant. He tried again, "Look, I'm not saying you should treat me like family but… ah, here." He extended his hand in her direction in the sign for a handshake. "My name is Daniel Hansen, I'm 21, I'm new here. I think your family is great, I think it's impossible to refuse your Gramm, I'm positive your sister is trained in the art of stealth, and.." he thought for a moment. "I hope we can be good neighbors."

She for the first time he could think of, smiled at him taking his hand and shaking it. "I'm Karin, 17, I grew up here. I think…" she suddenly flushed and turned quick back around to face the ocean, wrapping her arms around herself again. "Sorry, um, but…"

"Huh?"

"Can… can you keep your distance?"

Daniel was frustrated. "C'mon, you gotta be kiddin' me. I try to make peace, and bury the hatchet and all and now you're telling me…"

"Wait you don't understand. It's not that, it's just that I'm…" he could see that even the back of her neck was blushing.

He wagered a guess. "That robe is the only thing you're wearing right now isn't it?"

She hugged herself closer. "Could you please…"

"Okay okay, it's about time I should head back anyways."

"I'm… I'm sorry" she offered quietly. "For earlier. I know you don't understand right now but… Please don't hold it against them."

"How's your friends arm? I hope I didn't leave a mark."

"She's pretty tuff, she'll be fine."

"Tell them I didn't mean any harm okay?" She nodded. "So if you don't mind my asking, what's with the outfit anyways." He asked, not looking at her but watching Rinne play in the sand.

"We have a festival coming up, so… I'm purifying my body."

"Oh," he stated, unsure what to think.

"Hey Daniel… Do you believe in God?"

"I.." he began "Have my own ideas on the subject. Things in my life have… changed."

"The questions you have are not easy to answer with words." She spoke slowly now, more serious. "Come to see the festival tonight, you… you might find your answers there."